Improved Access to Safe Water: Effects on Adult Health and Time Reallocation in Rural Zambia

Yasuharu Shimamura, Satoshi Shimizutani, Shimpei Taguchi and Hiroyuki Yamada
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Shimpei Taguchi: JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development, Research Program Division

No 2020-024, Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series from Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University

Abstract: This paper examines the short term impact of improved access to safe water on adult health and time allocation at newly constructed boreholes in rural Zambia. We employ a difference-in-differences estimation using a dataset collected under a quasiexperimental setting. We observe a significant effect of improved access to safe water on reduction of diarrheal incidence for working-age adults and a resulting decrease in the number of days during which they could not perform their regular activities due to diarrhea, although the economic benefits resulting from health impacts were very limited. With respect to time allocation, we find that improved access to safe water reduced time spent on water-related household chores, including fetching water for female adults who live with female children, suggesting that burden of water-related household chores shifted from female adults to young girls. We do not observe any significant increase in time spent on income- generating activities. Instead, the time-gain benefit for working-age adults can be found in leisure time, particularly among females who live near the new boreholes.

Keywords: fetching water; borehole; diarrhea; time use; Zambia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2020-11-30
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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